Is Your Canon EOS R5 Mark II Autofocus Affected by the Latest Firmware?

I have noticed this as well, even though I do not use my R5M2 anywhere as much as I do my R1. I shot my son's prom pictures a couple of weeks ago and the tracking seemed to go all over the place several times and I had to reign it in by tagging their face and recompose the shot.
 
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Same problem with my R5 II, RF 100-500 and RF 200-800 are all over the place since 1.0.3 firmware update.
If I pull the 200-800 in to about 600 it may take some sharper shots but it's very hit and miss.
The camera seems to be tracking BIF OK but it's not actually focussing on them. Birds sitting in reeds or trees seems to throw up the same problem, the camera recognises the subject but doesn't focus...
I held off doing the update for weeks to see if there were any problems being noted but after not seeing any I went for it, unfortunately what was a totally reliable camera before the update is now so hit and miss I have gone back to my R5 I until hopefully Canon sort this with another update to fix the issue.
As a side note, the problem doesn't seem to happen when using my old EF 500mm IS L II with the adapter ring...
 
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Same problem with my R5 II, RF 100-500 and RF 200-800 are all over the place since 1.0.3 firmware update.
If I pull the 200-800 in to about 600 it may take some sharper shots but it's very hit and miss.
The camera seems to be tracking BIF OK but it's not actually focussing on them. Birds sitting in reeds or trees seems to throw up the same problem, the camera recognises the subject but doesn't focus...
I held off doing the update for weeks to see if there were any problems being noted but after not seeing any I went for it, unfortunately what was a totally reliable camera before the update is now so hit and miss I have gone back to my R5 I until hopefully Canon sort this with another update to fix the issue.
As a side note, the problem doesn't seem to happen when using my old EF 500mm IS L II with the adapter ring...
That’s very disturbing. Could you let us know what settings you are using. How much out of focus are the birds in flight? Just soft or completely missing? I’ll put mine though more paces this afternoon.
 
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I wonder if firmware downgrade works in this camera just as it worked on R5. I had downgraded my R5 once because of extreme focusing issues. After a few iterations I upgraded again with no issues this time.
 
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That’s very disturbing. Could you let us know what settings you are using. How much out of focus are the birds in flight? Just soft or completely missing? I’ll put mine though more paces this afternoon.
Various settings depending on the speed of the subject in flight or a perched bird.
I am always in manual mode and for BIF a shutter speed of around 2000 to 4000 depending on the speed of the subject with Auto ISO.
For still or perched subjects I will use between 500-800 shutter speed again depending on available light.
Some of the photos are way out of focus, almost like the camera just hasn't seen the subject and other times just a soft non sharp focus.
It almost seems that if it misses focus on say 800mm I pull the lens back to around 600mm and it will be sharp, I can then go back to 800mm and it will be OK again until loses the subject and from then on it will not focus again until it is pulled back again!!
It's not the lenses as they are working absolutely fine on my R5 I...
 
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Various settings depending on the speed of the subject in flight or a perched bird.
I am always in manual mode and for BIF a shutter speed of around 2000 to 4000 depending on the speed of the subject with Auto ISO.
For still or perched subjects I will use between 500-800 shutter speed again depending on available light.
Some of the photos are way out of focus, almost like the camera just hasn't seen the subject and other times just a soft non sharp focus.
It almost seems that if it misses focus on say 800mm I pull the lens back to around 600mm and it will be sharp, I can then go back to 800mm and it will be OK again until loses the subject and from then on it will not focus again until it is pulled back again!!
It's not the lenses as they are working absolutely fine on my R5 I...
Yesterday, I had a disappointing session at 800mm with poor focus of birds on a spit in a lake. I suspected it was heat haze. Today, it was cooler and the 200-800mm behaved impeccable. My settings were very simple with back button focus and full screen with eye tracking. I got tiny Barn Swallows racing across and big Herons sailing by all in excellent focus as well as grey Wagtails hopping on water lily leaves. You should perhaps send back your R5ii to Canon.
 
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I worry a downgrade would brick the camera as it's not something Canon advise doing
It would be a downgrade with an official firmware (not that there is an unofficial one). I would risk it if I had an expensive camera that focuses even worse than the early analog ones but of course it is your camera and your decision. And the trick may not work at all anyway.
 
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The idea of sending it to Canon is very good. Canon will have to do something and if they can't maybe they will chose to downgrade themselves.
As the problem seems to be happening to a lot of people that have updated to firmware 1.0.3 I will wait a while for Canon to fix the problem with yet another update. As mentioned on the Ordinary Filmmaker Youtube video it seems Canon are aware of the problem.
 
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I installed the firmware update and noticed a problem as soon as I used the R5 Mk II with my RF600mm f/4 lens, AF wasn't working so well especially on the foreground. It kept hunting for the subject. Sometimes it found it, but it forced me to give up, in frustration, most of the time. At first, I wasn't sure if the problem was the lens, so I tried it with my R1. The 600mm worked flawlessly with my R1. Sucks, because I have two R5 Mk II. Now, I'm thinking of sending them to Canon to reverse the firmware update, on both cameras, for an earlier version.
 
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Does that mean all stick on 1.0.0? Or does it mean that we wait until the latest one is announced and then install the previous?
1.0.2 works fine for me. Luckily I forgot that 1.0.3 was released, and did not upgrade (I usually upgrade ~1 month after FW release, and the 1 month threshold have passed already).
 
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I did the 1.03 upgrade and didn't notice anything. Used the R5II at a basketball match with the RF 28-70/2 and a soccer match with the RF 70-200/2.8 (non Z) last week. Original batteries (LP-E6P). And I used action priority most of the time for both games.
No AF issues. No battery-life problems.
 
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